Water Damage

Del. Robin Abbott flashed her consumer advocacy background on the floor of the House of Delegates on Thursday, arguing that a proposal to raise the threshold for reporting flood damage to cars would make Virginia a dumping ground for waterlogged cars and trucks. "It's a dangerous safe harbor that will encourage fraud," said Abbott, a Newport News Democrat who works as a lawyer with Consumer Litigation Associates. "Most states do not have any safe harbor at all."

When it comes to home safety, plumbing and electrical problems do a lot more damage than crooks. Here are our top tips for what you can do to keep your home safe and prevent disasters while you're away. • Turn off the water supply before going on vacation . Water damage from undetected plumbing leaks will quickly ruin ceilings, floors and walls, leading to repair bills in the thousands. Look for the main valve near the water meter and turn it clockwise to close it. If it's stuck, leaks or doesn't turn on again, hire a plumber to replace it. • Monitor foundation or wall cracks . Measure cracks every few months.

Plans to open Dare Elementary School received another setback when blowing rain created water damage to the unsealed building during both Hurricane Irene and last week's storms, said York County School Division Chief Operations Officer Carl James. Summer renovation work at Dare ran over into the start of the school year, which caused district officials to use a contingency plan, with some students at different schools and others in temporary classrooms at Dare. The water damage to sheetrock and insulation will further delay the return of all students to their regular classrooms at Dare, and officials are working on obtaining an estimated timeline for fully opening the building, James told the York County School Board at Monday's work session.

Everything from pumpkin rotting to digestion was examined at the York County School Division Science Fair. Display boards with all kinds of props were herded into the Grafton Middle and High School Complex for the district's annual contest Jan. 16. Hopeful students were prepared to face the judges with their projects, supporting information and answers to questions for the event themed "Solutions for Tomorrow. " A large jump in participation - by nearly 100 - brought the total to 311 entries for the largest fair ever held by the division, according to York County School Division spokeswoman Katherine Goff.

— A House panel approved raising the threshold for reporting water damage to cars in Virginia on Thursday, appearing to settle a simmering debate over how waterlogged vehicles must be before a warning must be added to the car's title. Current law says that when an insurance company spends $1,000 or more for flood repairs, the title must be branded to warn potential buyers. Last year, House Republicans pushed a bill that would have raised that level to $5,000. It was approved by the House despite loud objections from Del. Robin Abbott, D-Newport News, a consumer rights attorney.

JAMES CITY AND YORK COUNTIES A car in the Running Man Neighborhood, York County, off Victory Boulevard was completely submerged. Part of the historic Mainland Farm property, along Greensprings Road, James City County, was under water Thursday afternoon. Chickahominy Haven, along the Chickahominy River in James City County had several roads blocked during high tide Thursday morning. Water Street in York County was closed on Wednesday afternoon and reopened Thursday afternoon.

Repairs to years of leaks are under way at City Hall. Water damage has long been a problem for the 20-year-old structure, according to Tamas Purcher, project architect. "I was told the building leaked from Day 1 of occupancy and continues to do so now," he said. Brian Geary, project manager for Blue Ridge Contracting, said workers will replace worn-out caulking between exterior marble panels. After sealing and, where needed, replacing panels, each one will be cleaned.

Fire, smoke and water heavily damaged the Family Dollar store in Buckroe Shopping Center on Sunday evening. The fire was reported at 6:14 p.m. and firefighters arrived at 6:17, said Lt. Brian Rueger, spokesman for the Hampton Division of Fire and Rescue. Because of the potential for extensive damage at the strip mall, the summer heat -- temperatures were in the upper 80s -- and concern for the well-being of the firefighters, it quickly escalated to a two-alarm fire. That means double the manpower and equipment, Rueger explained.

Robert Kitchen remained calm while walking through the first floor of his Brookside townhouse. It still had water in it but the flooding had gone down from its peak of more than 5 feet. Then, as he walked through, Kitchen saw a picture of his daughter floating - and his game face disappeared. "My brother had to grab me," he said. "I almost lost it." They've had a lot of rain before, Kitchen said, but this is the first time it has flooded in Brookside. Kitchen blames the city of Newport News.

Several residents in an apartment complex were at least temporarily displaced Saturday afternoon after a kitchen fire in one unit led to water damage. The fire set off water sprinklers at the Bridgewater apartment complex, off Marcella Road, damaging five units. The sprinklers extinguished the fire before fire fighters arrived at the scene, said Hampton Fire Battalion Chief Tracy Hanger. She did not know how many people were affected. The kitchen fire was minor and no injuries were reported.

NEWPORT NEWS - A recent cold snap appears to be the culprit behind a burst pipe that damaged a bank of computers at a city library. Library officials were able to perform an initial assessment of the damage to computers and furniture Thursday, estimating that the Virgil I. Grissom Library in Denbigh will be closed at least until Tuesday while a water extraction company works in the building. On Wednesday "one of the pipes for the sprinkler system burst and we believe it was cold weather-related," said Newport News Library Director Izabela M. Cieszynski.

By Robert Brauchle, rbrauchle@dailypress.com | 757-247-2827 and By Robert Brauchle, rbrauchle@dailypress.com | 757-247-2827 | November 21, 2013

HAMPTON - A 112-year-old home along the north bank of Newmarket Creek is being razed by a city-hired contractor. The city is paying Nansemond River Contractors $50,086 to level the colonial revival home it bought in November 2004 for $1.3 million, according to city property tax records and information provided by Hampton spokeswoman Robin McCormick . The property just south of the H2O housing project sits along the path of a recreational trail...

Yoyong Melicor sat by the phone all weekend waiting for news on his daughter's in-laws who live in Tacloban, Philippines, a city devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the country early Friday. On Sunday, Melicor - who is owner of Egg Roll Hut Filipino Fast Food in Newport News - said he found out his daughter's in-laws' home was severely damaged by the typhoon, but they were safe. "My daughter who lives in Manila called after receiving a text message," Melicor said. "She shed tears of joy. It was mental torture.

Ray Vernall is never sure what people will want to talk about when he runs into them, because the possibilities cover a wide range. "It just depends on what the issue is of the moment," Vernall said. The Poquoson city councilman might hear about city issues before council or something having to do with education since he served as superintendent of Poquoson City Public Schools from 1977-99. Or it could be an interest he holds very dear - community theater. Vernall, 76, was the founding president of Poquoson Island Players (PIP)

It took three years, about 75,000 matchsticks and a lot of Elmer's Glue to build, but the 4-by-6 foot replica of the Yankee Stadium finally made its way to the real Yankee Stadium. It was displayed Tuesday, May 14, before the Seattle Mariners-Yankees game started. Kelly Herrington, of Suffolk, campaigned for the replica to get to the Yankee Stadium and after hundreds of exchanges with the Yankees, the replica built by her grandfather, Bill "Brother Beans" Becker, of Toms River, N.J., received some well-deserved notoriety.

By Robert Brauchle, rbrauchle@dailypress.com | 757-247-2827 | December 26, 2012

HAMPTON — A lone Wherry housing apartment building originally scheduled to be demolished in December will remain standing and could be renovated into a bath house. Building 300 is a single-story duplex built on Fort Monroe in the early 1950s. The brick veneer building was saved from demolition because it could be renovated to serve visitors to the property, Fort Monroe Authority Executive Director Glenn Oder said. The authority had hired a contractor to demolish 31 Wherry housing buildings along Fenwick Road.

A fire in the East End early Saturday injured two firefighters and turned a family out of its home. None of the four adults and two teen-agers who lived at the house was injured, officials said. Firefighters said the blaze, reported at 6:08 a.m. at 1141 Hampton Ave., caused major damage to the home's third floor, and substantial smoke, heat and water damage to the first and second floors. Battalion 1 Chief J.L. Knickerbocker said some of the water damage was caused by an upstairs water pipe that broke.

Nearly all area schools remain shutdown today because of power outages and flooding. Some schools, however, also suffered serious water damage Thursday. Rappahannock Central Elementary School in Middlesex County was flooded despite efforts by inmate crews from the Middle Peninsula regional jail to stack sandbags around the building. Two to three inches of water lined the cafeteria floor and several classrooms at the school. Hampton City Schools sustained water damage to at least three of its buildings Thursday, including Hampton High School, Spratley Middle School and Tarrant Elementary School, spokeswoman Ann Stephens said.

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Every time Virginia linebacker Daquan Romero looked up at his cheering section in the stands last Saturday at North Carolina State, he saw a face that hadn't been there at any of his other college games, but it was a presence that made him smile. Romero's dad, Hugo, had a chance to attend one of his son's college games for the first time. Hurricane Sandy ripped through New York City and made Big Apple resident Hugo's travel arrangements an immense pain, but nothing was going to keep him from getting to Raleigh, N.C., especially considering it was Romero's first start for U.Va.

'We built them ourselves' In their low-lying creek-front home off Chesapeake Avenue in Hampton, Barry Menser and Michael Hamar have dealt with repeated water damage from storm surge over the past decade. Hurricane Isabel brought 18 inches of flooding in 2003. Irene brought 4 in 2011. And the nor'easter of 2009 pushed 4 to 9 inches through the doors, Hamar said. But though the water from the creek pushed up on their back patio and threatened the house at high tide early Monday, everything but the garage remained high and dry. Three newly installed sump pumps insured the safety of their piled-up furniture, while a series of home-made floodgates constructed from roofing membrane, 2x4s and sandbags protected every other point of entry.